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Classification of the Cilento,Vallo Diano and Alburni National ParkEuropean Geopark Coastland
DOMENICO GUIDA1, ANIELLO ALOIA2 & ALESSIO VALENTE3
1
Department of Civil Engineering, University of Salerno, Fisciano (SA), ITALY, dguida@unisa.it
Cilento,Vallo Diano and Alburni National Park-European Geopark, ITALY, a.aloia@cilentoediano.it
3
Department of Sciences and Tecnologies, University of Sannio, Benevento, ITALY, valente@unisannio.it
2
Abstract: In order to address innovative approaches for best conservation practices and sustainable use of
marine and coastal geosites, this paper proposes a classification scheme and distinctive evolutionary model for
representative carbonate, terrigenous and clastic rocky coast and marine nearshore geosites of the Cilento,
Vallo Diano and Alburni National Park-European, based on original analysis and international standards.
Key words: Coastal geosite, rocky coast classification, Cilento European Geopark, Southern Italy.
In addition, Global (Climate) Change and related
level sea variation induce further disturbance in a
very large space-time span [1]. All the previous
considerations help in a better understanding of the
coastal system in order to perform appropriate
actions for coast protection, conservation,
sustainable mitigation and remediation. In this
direction, major efforts have been lavished by
scientific and public institutions in researches and
interventions on shorelines and beaches erosion
remediation, because of their great economic
importance in tourism and recreation. Little
attention have been given, instead, to the rocky and
cliff coast, although their spatial extension,
hazardous characters and scenery relevance. Rocky
coastlands constitute relevant areas of the network
of protected areas, as Marine Reserves and to assess
1. Introduction
The Cilento European Geopark has one of the most
fascinating and appreciated coastlands in the
Mediterranean countries and thus contains many
coastal and marine geosites.
It is characterized by physical, flora, and fauna
diversity, with mild and rainy winters and hot, dry
and prolonged summers. The historical human
occupation in the last millennia has created a very
attractive scenery and, locally, a unique cultural
landscape (Fig. 1), constituting one of the major
social-economic factor in the Geopark. In the last
decades, the Geopark coastland has suffered an
increasing human pressure due to civil settlements
as well as tourist infrastructures, resulting in a
hazard for humans, in damaged habitats and in
losses for the landscape heritage (Fig. 2).
Figure 1: “Telegraph Cape”, a fascinating geosite with an ancient tower on the top,
Figure 2: “Palinuro Natural Arch” damaged by rockfall event in 2011
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rocky coast landscape characters, natural ecosystem
resources and specific hazardous areas become more
and more essential to increase studies and
researches in rocky coast environment. Following
Sunamura [2], a rocky coast may be defined as a
coast that is cliffed and yet composed of
consolidated material irrespective of its hardness;
these shores are thus commonly characterized by
cliffs of various types and associated subjacent
platforms [3]. Recently, international organizations ,
for instance, Unesco [4], IUCN Protocol [5] [6] and
Council of Europe [7] [8], have shifted their
attention and recommendations from a site-based
and disciplinary problem approach to worldwide
approach (so called “Ecological Approach”) at
broad scale [9]. In order to define rocky coast as
“interacting complex landscape” between physical,
biological and human factors at broader scale, the
first step should be to assess the basic physical
characteristics [10], such as climate, geological and
geomorphological units in term of typology together
with a hierarchical space-time classification. The
paper deals with a preliminary typology and
hierarchical classification of the rocky coast in
Cilento Geopark coastland, based on the general and
more shared classification criteria [2] and localbased experienced applications, within the ICAM
protocol [6], overcoming the littoral cell concept
and on modelling of local hydrodynamic processes
and considering an integrate approaches to assess
coastal evolution taking into account space, time
and scale [11]. The approaches have been used to
provide an analysis of present day setting as a
dynamical result of a past and long-term evolution
for the selected coastal segments of Geopark. In this
paper, rocky coastal cliffs in Geopark,
representative of analogous landforms in Southern
Italy, are analyzed in order to define their main
characters, classification and morpho-evolutionary
outlines. The key outputs from this research are: i)
Improved understanding of mid-to-long term coastal
behaviour; ii) assessment of rocky coast evolution to
modelling future scenarios, and supporting regional
information and local data to planning and
management policies.
According with Cinque and Ascione [12], the
coastland in Campania represents the periTyrrhenian sector of the Campano-lucanian Arc in
the Southern Apennine Chain. This represents a
segment of a larger fold-and-thrust belt built up in
Central Tethys between late Cretaceous and
Pleistocene, as consequences of interaction between
the European and African plates, spreading of the
Tyrrhenian oceanic basin and anti-clockwise
rotation of the orogenic front [13]. Due to long-time
and complex litho-genetic history, tectonosedimentary events and orogenic displacements,
several litho-stratigraphic units can be distinguished
(Fig. 3).
The Internal Units, Mesozoic to Tertiary aged,
[14] [15] are made up at the base prevalently by
marly, varicoloured clay, in oceanic plain
sedimentary facies, passing above in calcarenites,
calcilutites, often cherty, argillites, sandstones and
rare conglomerate deposited in a distal turbidite
setting. The External Units constitute mainly by
carbonate sediments of Mesozoic and Tertiary age
which show sedimentary environments going from
the shallow water carbonates with back-reef facies
to slope and deep water carbonates [16] [17]; they
constitute the bedrock of major cliffed rocky coast
in the Sorrento Peninsula, as well as in the southern
of Cilento. In disconformity on the previous units
there are the Neogenic Sinorogenic Units,
represented by several terrigenous formations and
units referred to Miocene age in turbidite facies,
from wild-flysch to submarine fan sedimentary
characters. For instance, Cilento Group [18] [15] is
one of these units, which is most widespread in the
homonymous area and along the corresponding
coast. The Quaternary Postorogenic Units include
all the continental, transition and marine clastic
sediments, deposited after the final emersion of
Apennine Chain (Late Pliocene-Early Pleistocene)
[17]. They are represented by aeolian, fluvial,
piedmont, lacustrine and travertine deposits along
the river valleys and coastal plains, but also they
form local cliffs in Cilento. Such units can show
intercalation of the products of the campanian
volcanic activity. The above geological and tectonic
setting, induce a prevalent morpho-structural control
of the geopark rocky coastland, with rocky cliffs
resulting from retreat and replacement of the
previous fault scarps and fault-line scarps (Fig. 3),
alternating to terraced plains and shorelines Based
on tectonical, lithological and morphological
characters several geomorfological Coastal Systems
[19] can be recognized. Bulgheria Mt., in the
southern Cilento Geopark are representative of
2. Geological and geomorphological
coastal setting
The outline of the coast of the Cilento Geopark, part
of Campania coast, is very complex with long,
rectilinear coastal plains, pocket beaches, prolonged
headland and sharp cliffs. Small slands and little
stacks are also present near-shore and off-shore.
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Figure 3 - Southern Campania Geological Setting. Legend 1: Quaternary Postorogenic Units;2: Volcanic
Units; 3: Pliocenic clastic deposits; 4: Neogenic Sinorogenic Units; 5: Internal Units; 6: External Units; 7:
main faults; 8: low and sandy coastline; 9: high and rocky coastline; 10: eruptive centre.
Carbonate coastal mountainous massifs, with
karst summit and bounding high structural mountain
slope, locally plunging to the coastline.
Terrigenous coastal mountainous massif, almost
exclusive of the Cilento Geopark, are characterized
by sharpest ridges and deeply incised ravines
descending to the sea through denudational and
depositional stratified cliffs, locally terraced. Also in
Cilento Geopark, but in limited stretch, are
distinguishable Marly-clayey hilly coastal cliffs,
with rounded ridge and coastal slope locally steep
and often landslide evolving. In order to complete
this analysis it is not forget the Clastic coastal
cliffs, generally with Pleistocene aged beach-dune
system, locally cliffed.
frameworks, integrated and systematic approaches
to coastal classification are favoured. A new
approach to a comprehensive classification system
is thus proposed for the coastal fringe, a swath zone
3 to 10 km wide across the shoreline, which
incorporates all important parameters necessary to
categorize geomorphic units that can be mapped at
meaningful scales. Consideration of coastal
geomorphological properties are the theme of
promising approximation toward a modern
taxonomic system, where morpho-structures are the
unifying links, which facilitate transition from one
hierarchical level to another [21]. The up-to-date
approach employs differentiating criteria for hard
rock (automorphic) and soft rock (allomorphic)
coasts which are divided by chronological
parameters related to the age of littoral landforms.
Other levels of primary differentiation include
geodynamic and morphoclimatic process zones,
relief types (morpho-regions), morphogenetic relief
features,
relief
elements
and
genetically
homogeneous surfaces. Coastal Morpho-types are
lower level taxons, which provide examples of
marine ingression and regression as well as complex
process-forms [21]. Following the Fairbridge
approach on the regional aspects of Holocene
3. Coastal classification
Different classifications have been applied to coasts
in attempt to characterize dominant features in terms
of physical or biological properties, models of
evolution, or geographic occurrence. For a
comprehensive analysis of coast classification see
the papers [19] and [20]. Due to more
interdisciplinary studies of coasts and because of the
increasing availability of information, especially
base maps in digital formats processing in GIS
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The proposed classification for Cilento Geopark
coastland includes the relationship between
important
tectonic,
geological
and
geomorphological characteristics and the various
coastal landscapes, formations/systems and groups
of habitat types. The main parameters and criteria
applied to EUCC Coastal Typology of Cilento
Geopark are:
Predominant substrate in the littoral zone: i) hard
rocks: rocks which are extremely resistant to erosion
including limestones and dolomite; ii) soft rocks:
rocks with a lower resistance to erosion (mostly
supplying moderate amounts of clastic and
sedimentary material to the littoral zone), including
sandstones and calcarenites referred to Mesotertiary age, Pleistocene aeolian and littoral deposits,
terraced conglomerate; iii) recent loose sediments,
including Holo-Pleistocene alluvial and slope
sediments. Slope of the coastal zone in a wider
context (from the sublittoral zone up to a kilometre
inland, distinguishing: i) high and cliffed coasts
(reaching over 100 m above sea level in the first 5
km from high water mark); ii) coastal plains, which
usually provide wide areas for the development of
sedimentary and aeolian systems. Coastal regime,
especially used in sedimentary coastal plains, the
rationale of this parameter is that the formation and
evolution of coastal landscapes depend on the
relative wave impact in the littoral zone and, as
consequence, on prevalent and dominant winds
Based on the above three parameters, a resulting
Cilento Geopark Coastal Typology of four
landscape types has been drown, as shown in Table
1 and mapped (Fig. 5)
coastal paleogeography in the United State [22], in
the Campania Region can be recognized two basic
categories of environmental setting that are of great
importance: primarily, the geotectonic province
coasts based on the concept of tectonically stable
regions and those of tectonically active region,
secondarily, the climatic province. According to
recent hierarchical geomorphological proposals [20]
[23] [24], the previous Campania Coastal Systems
are included in tectonically stable Latium-Campania
Geotectonic Coastal Regions and in volcanotectonically active region Vesuvius-Phlaegrean
Geotectonic Coastal Regions. The first can be
subdivided in two Morpho-structural Coastal
Provinces from South to North: Cilento with Sele
Plain and Sorrento Peninsula with Campana Plain
Coastal Province; the latter in Vesuvius and
Phlaegrean Coastal Provinces.
Figure 4: Campania Coastal System
Table 1 – Cilento Geopark Coastal Typology
Coastal Geotectonic
Region
Coastal Morpho-Structural
Province
Dominant landscape Coastal Morphotype
Landscape Coastal Component
1a. Hard rock, cliff
Latium-Campania
Geotectonic Coastal
Region
Cilento Morphostructural Coastal
Province (Tectonically stable)
Micro-tidal shore of limestone and karst
areas in southern Cilento.
Sea cliffs, rocky shores with caves,
stacks and arches, bays and pocket
beaches and small estuaries.
2a. Soft rock, slope
Cilento Coastal Morphostructural
Province (Tectonically stable)
Micro-tidal shores of terrigenous and marly
clayey in northern and western Cilento;
Soft rock and other friable sea cliffs
with e.g. shale, sandstone and
cemented sand of ancient dunes.
2a. Soft rock cliff
Cilento Coastal Morphostructural
Province (Tectonically stable)
Micro-tidal shores of loose and cemented
clastic Pleistocene deposits.
Aeolian and tidal calcarenite and
sandstone
3a.Wave-domin. Sediment
Cilento Coastal Morphostructural
Province (Tectonically stable)
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Micro tidal zone, sand beach-dune system
with recent loose sediments.
124
Beach-dune coasts
and River estuaries
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Figure 4: Distribution of Coastal Typology in southern Campania: in the southern prevail cliffed coasts
(horizontal lines: hard rock; diagonal lines: soft rock); in the Salerno Gulf coastline exclusively dominate
sand beach dune system.
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